Lygodesmia. COMPOSITE. 435 



P. scrpentaria.) Harpalyce alttssima, Don, 1. c. ; Beck. 1. c. Nabalus altissimus, Hook. Fl. i. 

 294 ; DC. I.e. ; Torr. & Gray, I.e., with named varieties, ot-atus, cordatus (N.cordatus, Hook., 

 Prenanthes twefata, Willd. Hort. Berol. t. 25), deltoidcus (N. deltoideus & N. cordatus, DC. 

 1. c., Prenanthes deltoidtus, Ell. 1. c.), & disscctus, all too transitional for preservation. Woods 

 and shaded banks, Newfoundland to Saskatchewan, Pennsylvania, and to the mountains of 

 Georgia. 



H n Involucre campanulate-oblong, of livid or greenish bracts nearly or quite destitute of 

 scariuus margins, imperfectly calyculate by 2 or 3 irregular and loose linear accessory bracts, 

 less pendulous than in the preceding: pappus sordid-whitish: plants glabrous or a little 

 pubescent. 



P. Boottii. A span or two high, simple, several-leaved, bearing 7 to 15 racemosely disposed 

 heads : leaves deltoid-oblong and obtuse, or somewhat hastate and the upper acute, on mar- 

 gined petioles, uppermost lanceolate, all entire or denticulate, the lamina only an inch or so 

 long : involucre half-inch long, of 10 to 15 obtuse and rather unequal proper bracts, 10-18- 

 flowered : flowers dull white. Prenanthes alba, var. nuna, Bigel. Fl. Bost. I.e., in part. 

 Nalalus Boottii, DC. Prodr. vii. 241 ; Torr. Gray, 1. c. 482. Alpine region, mountains of 

 Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and N. New York ; first coll. by Boutt and Biijelow. 



P. alata. A foot or two high, the larger plants branching : leaves hastate-deltoid, acute or 

 acuminate, sharply and irregularly dentate, abruptly contracted or some of the upper ciuie- 

 ately decurreut into winged petioles, or small uppermost narrower and sessile by a tapering 

 base : heads loosely and somewhat corytnbosely paniculate : involucre of 8 to 10 bracts, 7-15- 

 flowered : flowers purplish : akeues slender, 3 or almost 4 lines long, at least sometimes with 

 tapering summit! Sonclnts hastatus, Less, in Linn. vi. 99; Bong. Veg. Sitch. 146. Nabalus 

 alatus, Hook. Fl. i. 294, t. 102 ; Torr. & Gray, Fl. ii. 483. Mulyedium hastatum, DC. Prodr. 

 vii. 250. Uualaska and other Aleutian Islands to Oregon ; first coll. by Chamisso, &c. 

 (Adj. Asia.) 



Var. sagittata. Leaves sagittate or hastate, with the basal lobes mostly slender and 



prolonged: heads in a virgate panicle: involucre narrower, pale green (not livid), very 



glabrous, subtended by more numerous slender calyculate bracts : immature akenes little 



over 2 lines long, not tapering at summit. Rocky Mountains, N. Montana, in Jocko Canon, 



Watson. Upper Flathead, L'anby & Saryent. 



229. LYGODESMIA, Don. (Airyos, a pliant twig, and Seoy^, bundle, 

 from the vimiiieous fasciculate stems of the typical species.) N. American herbs, 

 mostly smooth and glabrous ; with usually rush-like rigid or tough stems, linear or 

 scale-like leaves, and terminal or scattered heads which are always erect ; the 

 flowers pink or rose-color, produced in spring or summer. Don, in Edinb. Phil. 

 Jour. vi. 305; DC. Prodr. vii. 198; Torr. & Gray, Fl. ii. 484; Benth. & Hook. 

 Gen. 530; Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. ix. 217. Genus somewhat polymorphous. 



1. Erect perennials, with striate-angled junciform stems and branches, not 

 spinescent, and terminal solitary heads : akenes slender, terete, almost filiform, 

 slightly tapering to summit, 4-8-uerved or at maturity nerveless : pappus soft and 

 copious, whitish or sordid. 



L. jlincea, Dox, 1. c. Fastigiately much branched from the deep-rooted base, about a foot 

 high : leaves persistent, small, somewhat uervose ; lower lanceolate-linear from a broadish 

 base, inch or two long ; upper reduced to small subulate scales : involucre at most half-inch 

 long, 5-flowered : ligules a quarter or third of an inch long. Hook. Fl. i. 295, t. 103 ; Torr. 

 & Gray, 1. c. Prenanthcs jitncea, Pursh, Fl. ii. 498 ; Nutt. Gen. ii. 123. Plains of the Sas- 

 katchewan and Minnesota to the Eocky Mountains, New Mexico, and even in Nevada, 

 Watson. 



L. grandiflora, TOER. & GRAY. Stems separate or few from the root, simple below, a 

 span to a foot high ; the larger plants leafy, corymbosely branched above, and bearing few 

 or numerous short-pedunculate heads : leaves all entire, of firm and thickish texture, linear- 

 attenuate, 2 to 4 inches long, only the very uppermost reduced to scales : involucre fully 

 three-fourths inch long, 5-10-flowered: ligules of equal length, showy, rose-red. Fl. ii. 485. 



